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"“Naturally things need to function but, if they’re not beautiful, then there is no point.”"

Christopher Guy

Let it speak

Allow the piece space to prevent overpowering other elements.

Select something you love and in the spirit of art, not furniture, that will work with any décor.

Ensure the styles go together: a velvet chair won’t work next to a wagon wheel table.

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Use lighting elements to enhance the “designed” quality of your space.

Two statement pieces will split a room’s focus.

In the world of high fashion, designers are the faces of the brands they create and construct. The big names —Kate Spade, John Galliano, Issey Miyake — are instantly recognized.

But in the world of industrial and furniture design, the names of the best are known mostly within the industry. In the past we had designers like Charles Eames and Mies van der Rohe who created iconic collections and whose designs remain in production long after their deaths.

Today, we have just two living industrial and fashion designers with looks that can be identified as their own: Barbara Barry and Christopher Guy.

Elegant and luxurious, the style of Guy came to life for us last month during the annual winter furniture market in Las Vegas. We got the chance to chat with the designer in his showroom about his statement pieces, his background and his creative process.

He was born in London, England as Christopher Guy Harrison to a French mother and British father. When his mother later remarried her Spanish husband, Guy became trilingual. “They were parents who were forward thinkers and believed that anything was possible. You don’t give up on a dream until you have mastered it,” he said, crediting his parents and their international lifestyle for his tenacity and ability to think big. That spirit of entrepreneurship, intellect, and innate sense of elegance and luxury has served him well.

He founded Harrison & Gil in 1993 with the plan to make extraordinary carved-frame mirrors. He’d discovered them the year before, at a Spanish antiques show, but the beautifully carved-frame mirrors were no longer being made. He sourced the best carvers in Java, Indonesia, and a year later had sold his first mirror at Harrods.

By 1998, he’d bought land on the island of Java to build a factory and then expanded in 2005 to make a full line of luxury furniture.

Now called the Christopher Guy line, the design is distinctly feminine. “Perhaps I simply like women too much,” he said about the pieces’ and mirrors’ soft, elegant lines. His signature crossed-leg detail — internationally patented as the Chris-X — says “elegant woman sitting crossed legged.”

The inspiration was Scarlet O’Hara’s 17-inch, hourglass waistline in Gone with the Wind and the poised legs of a ballerina. The engineering of the chair had its own challenges but its grace and luxury were paramount.

“Naturally things need to function but, if they’re not beautiful, then there is no point.” His belief runs deep, including through his 1-million-square-foot factory designed in Moorish style to suit the Javanese landscape. From appearances, it looks to be more of a centuries-old Moorish castle, and less of a factory.

Details are clearly very important to the brand. The Camilla mirror, for instance, was inspired from a hat worn by Camilla Parker Bowles. Approximately 3-1/2-feet in diameter, it’s a solid piece of wood, completely carved by hand and finished in the factory. The elegance and softness of the carving is what makes the piece so impressive.

One of the other signature elements of a CG piece is the Silk-cut — a slit cut into the back of the upholstery on chairs and occasionally into a dining table or desk. At first appearance a razor slice, a second look shows interior fabric in a contrasting colour: Imagine a black dining chair with a Silk-cut with a Dior Red interior. The detail is subtle and elegant, as well as surprising, and completely specific to the Christopher Guy brand.

His objective with furniture and accessories was “to make uniquely beautiful decorative furnishings that appeal to an international market.” He lists early inspirations for his work stemming from boyhood vacations on the shorelines of Cannes, France.

Elegance is “an effortless form that is beyond beauty,” Guy explains, and he’s captured exactly that in his furniture and accessories. The pieces are stunning and stand on their own merits well before they are supported by the Christopher Guy name.

Although not to everyone’s taste, it’s easy to be impressed with his designs. Each piece is a statement that can stand as a piece of art or, gathered together, create a grand room. The collection can be found at hotels around the world — in the Wynn Resorts in Vegas and Macao, China, and the Ritz Carlton in Tokyo — and in movies including the James Bond vehicles Casino Royale and Tomorrow Never Dies, as well as Stardust, The Devil wears Prada and Ocean’s 13.

His Mademoiselle Collection is a little smaller in scale and Guy says to describe it: “If Coco Chanel were alive today, this is what I believe would be in her apartment.” The Chanel attention to clean lines, classic shapes and surprising detail is apparent in this collection, as well. The Chris-X and Silk-cut details are also signature in this collection.

Guy is very articulate while being soft-spoken — mindful of a refined gentleman with royal lineage. He is humble when he talks about being asked to do the design for the 100th anniversary refurbishment of London’s renowned tea room, Harrods Georgian Restaurant.

“It was a project that meant a great deal to me because Harrods is a purveyor of the finest goods in the world,” he said. “It represents old-world elegance, directly tied to my heritage, and my beginnings in the industry.”

Guy’s work is published everywhere, from Architectural Digest to trade magazines. He has showrooms in 42 cities through North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. His humility masks true creative genius and he is one of the few furniture designers in the world today who stands with the innovators and big names of the industry.

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